Five Maintenance Tips From EVT’s Brett Flemming

EVT’s Brett Flemming fixes thousands of bikes every year and has deep discussions with bike maintenance guru John Barnett of Barnett Bicycle Institute about all things repair. Here are five quick tips from the master you can use:

1. Carry a Spare Derailleur Hanger - Insist your shop carries replacement hangers for the bike you bought and carry one with you, especially on your mountain bike. You will bend or break one eventually and this will save your ride. Also make sure your limit screws are correctly adjusted to keep the derailleur cage out of your spokes.

2. Change Your Cables and Housing Often - Most people are pretty good about changing their cables, but often neglect to change the housing which deteriorates very quickly and causes sub-par performance. Do yourself a favor and change it more often than you think you should.

3. Watch the Water - The amount of water you use to clean your bike will escalate your maintenance exponentially. Unlike, say, a motorcycle, bicycles are light and delicately sealed. Go easy with the hose and give your bike a sponge bath rather than a power washing. Try not to get water in the feehub bearings. The more water that comes in contact with your bike, the more you should expect to do to maintain it.

4. Lube Your Cables – A cable should be treated like a precious violin string–no kinks, and only gentle curves. Delicately lube cables with Shimano’s SP41 cable grease–it will make your bike shift smoother and keep it that way for a long time. Just the lightest of coatings–so as not to retard the action–will reduce the effort needed to change gears and just feel beautiful.

5. Lube Your Plastic - There’s no such thing as self-lubricating plastic. Bottom bracket cable guides tend to get gummed up with the dried sugar from energy drinks because it’s at the lowest point of the bike. Clean it off with warm water, lift the cable up and put it down a bead of SP41 to keep shifting smooth. On a SRAM rear derailleur there’s a sharp bend in cable routing which causes friction. A little grease there will keep it shifting smoothly and extend cable life.

Flemming inspects the bottom bracket cable routing of a classic Tomassini held overhead by the $1385 E-Z Lift Repair Stand and Right Arm Repair Clamp combo. If you don’t have a floor to bolt the E-Z Lift too, the Steel Base Plate will set you back another $385. Photo by Bob Huff.

Flemming preaches the gospel of tools to onlookers at Interbike earlier this year. His talents are also in high demand from the bike industry, bike shops and the bike riding public. Photo by Don Palermini.

Flemming’s well-weathered mitts hold the Knuckle Saver Pedal Wrench Adapter, a tool that lets you use a pedal wrench on hex-only spindles. If you’ve ever broken free such a pedal only to have your hands auger into a chainring, you’ll gladly hand over $31 for this tool. Photo by Bob Huff.

EVT strives to build a better mousetrap or, in this case, a better derailleur alignment tool. The Tru-Arc Derailleur Hanger Alignment Tool is worth every letter in its longish name, and every cent of its $585 price. Photo by Bob Huff.

Chicago-born editorial director Don Palermini became a cycling-based life-form in the sixth grade after completing a family road bike tour of his home state. Three years later he bought his first mountain bike to help mitigate the city's pothole-strewn streets, and began exploring the region's unpaved roads and trails. Those rides sparked a much larger journey which includes all manner of bike racing, commuting, on- and off-road bike advocacy, and a 20-plus-year marketing career in the cycling industry. Now residing in the San Francisco Bay Area and pedaling for Mtbr, his four favorite words in the English language are "breakfast served all day," together in that order.

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When I worked as a wrench in a bike shop for a few years, it was always a pleasure to use EVT tools. Amazing how Brett could improve such a simple tool, such as a derailleur hanger alignment tool, so significantly. In the video he describes how his designs are inspired by the ultra badass lathe in his shop – totally makes sense after using his tools. The sense of permanence, superior craftsmanship, and great tactile feel are what separates a decent tool from the best. And it’s all made in his garage in Portland, Oregon. Great work, Brett.

1. Carry a Spare Derailleur Hanger – Insist your shop carries replacement hangers for the bike you bought and carry one with you, especially on your mountain bike. You will bend or break one eventually and this will save your ride. Also make sure your limit screws are correctly adjusted to keep the derailleur cage out of your spokes.

If I had followed this advice a few weeks, I would have had a few hundred bucks to spend on other bike bits rather than getting a wheek rebuilt, rear mech, hanger and chain replaced… etc….